Aaron and Emily: Damaged
by LacytheRomanWerewolf
Summary: Hotch tries to handle signing his divorce papers on his own. You can guess how well that goes. HP


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Lacy here with yet another ending I hate. There are quite a few as you will find out. Hotch has signed his divorce papers. Now if I followed the normal track for what I have been doing he'd go right to Emily or she'd somehow know and go to him. But not this time. You'll see. Have fun.

Ah also, that beginning scene with Dave, Garcia and Lynch? Not happening. Neither does the end where Lynch is waiting in Dave's office. Morgan/Garcia fan remember? Lynch does not exist in my happy world. (E/N: *whispers to random bystander* That happy world scares me sometimes, even when I agree with it.)

Disclaimer: Seriously, no.

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Emily finally finished her report and was ready to head home for the night. Seeing Hotch was still in his office, where he hadn't moved from since the team returned, Emily decided to go check on him.

"Hey Hotch, I'm heading out, you planning on leaving tonight?" Emily said, sticking her head into Hotch's office.

Emily figured she surprised Hotch because before he could put on his Agent Hotchner mask, Emily caught a glimpse of something else.

"Yeah I'll be leaving as soon as I finish a few more files." Hotch said.

Emily stepped in all the way with a frown. "You ok?"

"I'm fine Prentiss." Hotch said. "Just tired."

Hotch could tell Emily didn't believe him but she nodded none the less.

"Alright well try to get home before midnight." Emily said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Hotch gave a nod of his own. "Tomorrow."

He waited a reasonable amount of time for Emily to leave the building before dropping his mask and leaning back in his chair. The silence that started to settle was broken by his cell telling him he had an incoming text. Checking his phone, Hotch saw the text was from Emily.

'I know you're not fine.' it read. 'Remember you can call me or Dave if you need to.'

Hotch shook his head with a small smile. He should have known she would see right through him. But, he looked at the papers on the corner of his desk, this he wanted to try and get through alone. Figuring he wasn't going to get any more work done after staring at the same line for half an hour, Hotch decided to follow Emily's example and head home for the night. Looking at the corner of his desk again, Hotch also decided that he would drop the papers in the mail along the way.

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"Could you tell what was wrong?" Dave asked as he watched Emily cook.

Though Hotch had bowed out of the three's weekly dinner on the plane, Dave and Emily agreed they needed to talk about the man.

Emily shook her head. "No that impenetrable mask of his went up before I could really see anything."

Dave thought for a moment. "Maybe he finally signed the divorce papers."

"But why would he hide that?" Emily asked. "He's told me everything else."

"Maybe he's trying to work this out on his own." Dave said.

Emily sighed. "Well I sent him a text reminding him to call you or me if he needs to."

"He'll call Em." Dave said. "When he's ready he'll call."

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Hotch sat himself at his dining room table and sighed. He had just gotten home after dropping the divorce papers at the post office. Haley would get them in a day or two and within a week it would be finalized. As soon as they thought finished it really hit Hotch. Within a week he was losing his wife and son. As the thought continued to run through his head, Hotch knew he couldn't handle this alone.

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Dave looked at Emily as she sighed for the fourth time in five minutes.

"Keep that up and I'm gonna start to think I'm bad company." Dave commented.

Emily cringed. "Sorry Dave. I'm just..."

Dave nodded. "Worried about Aaron. I get it." he sipped his drink. "But you have to remember that even with all you've helped Aaron through, he still isn't used to having help. Having someone to turn to who wants to help."

Emily sipped her own drink. "One thing all three of us have in common."

Dave nodded his agreement with an inward smirk. That trait alone is probably what drew the three to each other. Before he could say that however there was a knock on Emily's door. Emily placed her drink on the kitchen island and walked to the door.

"It's Hotch." Emily said after looking through the peep hole.

Dave stood. "Told ya."

Emily gave him a look before opening the door. Neither Dave or Emily were prepared for the Hotch on the other side. Their normally hard boss was gone. Left was a man that could only be described with one word. Broken.

"Ho..." Emily caught herself. This was not a boss/subordinate moment. "Aaron."

Hotch didn't raise his head as he spoke. "Can I come in?"

Emily moved aside. "Of course.

Dave stayed by the kitchen counter as Hotch walked in. In all the years Dave had known Hotch he had never seen the younger man like this. Looking at Hotch's slumped posture that just screamed defeat, it was enough to make Dave want to go knock some sense into Haley. To drag her back and show her what she had done to Hotch.

"Aaron what happened?" Dave asked though he had a pretty good idea.

Hotch didn't act surprised that Dave was there. He knew the older man would be.

"I signed them." Hotch said, his voice just above a whisper.

"The divorce papers?" Emily asked, coming up beside Hotch.

Hotch nodded. "Put them in the mail on my way home."

"Come sit down Aaron." Emily said, placing a hand on his arm.

Hotch allowed Emily to lead him to the couch and the two along with Dave took up their normal seats.

"I've lost them." Hotch said.

Dave leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "You have not lost them Aaron. At least not Jack. Haley is not going to keep Jack away from you and even if she tries there isn't a person who knows you, who knows how much you love that little boy that would let her."

"I've still lost my wife." Hotch said.

"You admitted yourself that Haley wanted you to give up the BAU. Give up who you are." Dave said. "If you had done that, you would have ended up here anyway."

"So this is for the best." Hotch said, finally looking up. Only he didn't look at Dave, who had been talking to him, he looked at Emily.

Emily nodded. "It's saving you and Haley from the pain of fighting further. And it's saving Jack from ever having to remember the two of you fighting. You don't really want Jack to remember that do you?"

Hotch shook his head. "No I don't. No child should have to remember their parents fighting." he sighed and sat back, running a hand through his hair. "It's gonna take some getting used to."

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Dave shrugged on his jacket as Emily opened her apartment door for him.

"You gonna let him stay the night?" Dave asked, referring to Hotch who was sitting on the couch staring out the window.

Emily looked at Hotch over her shoulder before looking back at Dave. "If he wants. I have a feeling it might be best."

Dave nodded. "Alright then I'll see you both at work. Take care of him Em."

Emily smiled. "I will, night Dave."

Dave walked out and Emily closed the door. She turned back to Hotch and wasn't surprised to see he still hadn't moved. After Dave and Emily had managed to get some food in him, he hadn't said much and hadn't moved from the couch. With a sigh Emily made her way over.

"Aaron," she said quietly. "you in there?"

Hotch finally broke his stare and looked at Emily. "I'm here."

Emily sat next to Hotch and curled her legs under herself. "You gonna head home or you wanna stay here?"

Hotch exhaled. "Ah I hadn't really thought about that yet. Are you going to bed?"

Emily shook her head. "No not yet. I want to make sure you're ok first."

"I'm getting there." Hotch said. "I tried to handle this on my own but when I got home and thought about how long it would take Haley to get the papers and for the divorce to be final,"

"It all just hit you." Emily finished. "Dave figured you'd be trying to handle it alone."

Hotch looked back at Emily just as she yawned. He glanced at his watch quickly and winced at how late it was.

"I should go." Hotch said.

Emily hesitated. "You sure?"

Hotch nodded and the two stood. "Yeah I'll be ok."

They walked to the door and just as Hotch was about to open it, Emily said his name. He turned to face her and after hesitating again for a second, Emily stepped forward and hugged Hotch. Hotch was surprised but welcomed the comfort his friend was offering, and returned the hug.

"You will be ok." Emily said, her voice slightly muffled given her face was against Hotch's shoulder.

Hotch didn't say anything but knew Emily was right. He would be ok.

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Alright that's done though again it didn't quite end the way I wanted. *shrugs* It happens a lot but the stories that don't end the way I want are generally the best. Let me know what you think, flame policy stands, well nailed more like it after it tried to run away again and thanks for reading.

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Sarah here! Stomach ache. I hate it when Japanese food hates me. Ugh *rolls onto stomach* that's better. Okay so, very very sad Hotch. Poor baby. *kisses air* I've only seen like 5 episodes of Criminal Minds. :) I think that's a record. I wasn't able to make it that far watching Stargate SG-1. This is a cop show and holds my attention. That's Sci-Fi and doesn't really do it for me. Okay, stopping my rant. Adios! Kisses~Sarah


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